{\Stephon Starbury/} (The Individual You Do not Know And Prefer To Dislike)

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{\Stephon Starbury/} (The Individual You Do not Know And Prefer To Dislike)

I was going to save this for when Starbury was actually traded or bought out but I might as well do it now, he is pretty much not going to wear his Knick uniform any longer...

I present a very well written article on one of the most talented Knick players in our history, who has been defrowned by an atrocious amount of media sources.

As unfortunate as his Knick career was with us (due to the bad management, coaching, and uninspired supporting cast of clowns), he is still All-Star capable aswell as a humanitarian.

The Ill-informed like to speak of him as selfish, unprofessional and that he gets too much money without knowing facts. The reporters and media love to make Starbury look bad at every angle possible, always putting forth the worst to present to the fans.

“YOU DON’T KNOW STEPHON MARBURY”

December 3, 2008 by [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

”THE QUINTESSENTIAL SELFISH ATHLETE”

You want to talk about Stephon Marbury’s exile from the Knicks… after not jumping at the opportunity for playing time offered by Mike D’Antoni. Yeah, you want to talk about ”he said-he said”, Marbury’s “unprofessionalism”, that he is — as one ESPN pundit said this week — “the quintessential selfish athlete”. That’s right. You want to talk about his selfishness — not his selflessness. Fine, soon enough. But to truly understand Stephon-the-player, we must first understand Marbury-the-man. Simply put:

Stephon Marbury is an American hero and sports’ greatest humanitarian [1]. And only in America — and its cartoonized world of sports coverage — can he become a villain.

I know, I know. You want to talk about the millions of dollars Marbury is making… how he is a “rich”, “spoiled”, “ungrateful”, “diva”, “me-first” athlete. Yeah, you want to talk about the millions he makes – but not the millions he has given away. That’s right. I want to talk about the $500K that Marbury pledged to Katrina victims, or the [Only registered and activated users can see links. ][Only registered and activated users can see links. ] to New York City police, firefighters, EMS, and teachers. He said:

“…if it saves more lives, I’m down for that. As far as making a difference in that manner, I feel compelled to do that… After 9-11, and all the families that have lost loved ones, it was a big hit to the city and to the world… This is basically about giving back…

If you don’t know what he has given, then you don’t know Stephon Marbury.

You want to talk about the day Marbury went AWOL from the Knicks after former coach Isiah Thomas benched him. Yeah, you want to talk about that day — but not that night. That’s right, I want to talk about that night when Marbury could be found [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]. Self-pity? Not quite. Marbury was mourning the death of long-time community mentor Robert Williams — more commonly known as Mr. Lou. Marbury — who once bought Mr. Lou a Cadillac — offered to pay for all of the funeral expenses. All this happened during Marbury’s alleged most selfish hour.

But if you don’t understand [Only registered and activated users can see links. ], then you don’t know Stephon Marbury.

You want to talk about the truck where Marbury famously requested and received consensual sex from a Knick employee. Yeah, you want to talk about “the truck” Mr. Adande — but not “the 18-wheelers”. That’s right, I want to talk about the two 18-wheelers that Marbury rolled into his hometown Coney Island with 75,000 items of free merchandise [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]. …Or how Marbury [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]… or how youth must read three books to play in his charity tournament, or how Marbury’s youth outreach efforts were in full effect both as a [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] and the [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] After paying an [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] to a 17-year old who just came out of a coma, Stephon said:

“This is where I’m supposed to be… And this is what I’m supposed to do”
But if you don’t know about his unwavering commitment to youth, then you don’t know Stephon Marbury.

Yeah, you just want to talk about the game – but not “the shoes”. But I want to talk about [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] that Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, called “the biggest business story of the year.” Despite business growing pains [2], Marbury sowed the seeds of a movement that soon included basketball player Ben Wallace, tennis star Venus Williams, actress [Only registered and activated users can see links. ], and others. All of a sudden [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]. Marbury said:

“The big picture is not having a $200 pair of sneakers when your mother’s income is $15,000. When you walk into a store, you are not being held hostage any more.”

If billionaire corporations like Nike have their way, then you won’t know Stephon Marbury.

ESPN doesn’t want you to know Stephon Marbury either. The man is simply too complex to fit into their “good-vs.-evil-only” sports narratives. Besides, black villains [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]. When Tony Romo took a homeless man to the movies last month [Only registered and activated users can see links. ], just as it was when Romo [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]. ESPN The Magazine soon wondered: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ], and all of ESPN’s afternoon shows had effusive praise culminating in one “Pardon The Interruption” (PTI) pundit exclaiming: “How can you not love Tony Romo!”

Well, here is one way: Don’t report any of his good deeds! Ignore him like you did Marbury [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] just a month prior. Ignore his annual charity events; ignore his Katrina response; ignore his record-setting donations, and ignore that a great week in the life of Tony Romo is like breathing to Stephon Marbury. But ESPN did not report ANY of these stories. His revolutionary $15 sneaker? Pardon the Interruption had this headline: “Can Marbury repair his image?” …Well, not if ESPN keeps framing it!

Given their selective, biased, and virtually criminal coverage of his career, you really can’t be blamed if you don’t know Stephon Marbury.

Save for notable exceptions like The New York Posts’ Marc Berman [3] and Knicks website writer Tom Kertes, ESPN’s Marbury treatment has been the general media rule. Only a few blogs are talking about the real Marbury. In this Interview with The Starting Five, hip-hop legend [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]:

“Stephon Marbury… provides affordable gear and went into the Coney Island area and bought up all the barber shops so kids can get free hair cuts. I’ve never heard anything as incredible as that. [He] can walk threw Coney Island and has an aura. People know he’s looked out. Nobody will touch him in the hood.”

While ESPN is writing cover stories on [Only registered and activated users can see links. ], they should let their readers get to know why Stephon Marbury is “living free”. In his childhood, nobody was allowed to touch Marbury either. Once his prodigious basketball talent was recognized, local drug dealers made sure that no one approached or sold to him. Marbury was protected then, and has been giving back protection ever since — with a slight twist. Stephon recognized both the virtue and flaw within that drug dealer code. About his recent million dollar pledges, [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]:

“Giving the money to the teachers is important because …[they] are feeding [children] their foundation. When I hear about budget cuts as far as schools, I just don’t understand that. I mean, not when we’re trying to allow our kids to become the leaders of the world! I want to create an environment where all of our schools prepare kids to go to places such as Harvard and Yale.”

If media “understanding” was as popular as “condemning”, we might be told that Marbury’s human weakness are connected — if not inseparable — from his phenomenal strengths. And the crux of that connection is:
LOYALTY.

Stephon was initially loyal to his last three coaches[4]. But despite falsely promising “a clean slate” no coach [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] [5]. Isiah Thomas was loyal at first until a scapegoat was needed. And career nomad Larry Brown has never been loyal to anyone but himself.

They were unlike some of the great New York City coaches like Pat Riley, Joe Torre, Bill Parcells, and Jeff Van Gundy who knew the big city coaching code: 1) protect your players; 2) handle all differences in-house, and 3) always keep the NYC media tabloid vultures at bay. But Stephon was undeniably scapegoated by all three [6]. And for his part, the reactive and difficult Marbury wears scapegoatism quite well (see signature over-the-head towel).

A closer inspection of Marbury’s reaction to his coaching feuds brought up a clear pattern. Marbury used words like “trust”, “disrespect”, “personal”, and even “foxhole”. What media often dismissed as merely “petulance” revealed a much deeper emotion: it was betrayal.

Betrayal is the ugly flip-side of loyalty’s coin. Marbury is cut from a different cloth. He is not loyal to a game or a contract, he is loyal to people. While his recent coaches all have their own track-records of Marbury-like stubbornness, none match his virtues. Those probably come from his original coach and mentor: Mr. Lou. [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]: “Without Mr. Lou, there is no Stephon.” Don wasn’t just talking about basketball either.

If his recent coaches expected him to be a ”Stepford-athlete”, they didn’t know Stephon Marbury.

Another clue came a few years ago after Larry Brown complained to the press one too many times. [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]:

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ] She is the same mother who personally cooks for 40 youth after Stephon brings them to his own personal home for a weekend stay-over. Mabel Marbury (and father Don) helped instill a value system and raised Stephon to be a great man first, and a great player second.

Those values were recently on display in a most unconventional trash-talking session where [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]:

“You’re nothing!… You’re caught up in basketball. Get caught up in life.”

Touche! …I think?

Statements like these, eccentric TV interviews, and “war-like” analogies often garner a “crazy” label from his media critics. But in a popular culture that values placing a round ball in a round cylinder over civic responsibility, Marbury may be the sanest of all. He has managed to escape the corporate “conveyor belt” that William C. Rhoden [Only registered and activated users can see links. ].

And…
if you can’t understand Marbury’s reaction to broken loyalty, then you probably can’t understand his greatness.

“Apples and oranges” you say? If so, how would you know? Did you [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] after watching news footage Hurricane Katrina? While sobbing, Marbury said:

“You see little babies floating in the river. It’s amazing. It’s amazing these people are still just going (on). You complain about the little things. But we’re just so fortunate to breathe and walk knowing all of this is going on.”

Marbury feels pain, empathy, and loyalty in far greater intensity than his athletic peers, coaches, fans, media, and this author. That’s why we can give high-handed lectures on “professionalism”, but he can go out and change the world. But most sports media mocks what they don’t understand. Because if it didn’t, then it would recognize Stephon Marbury as — warts and all –

…the greatest “person-athlete” of our times.

We say “where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?” while forgetting that he was a protected media myth. We say “why aren’t athletes involved in the community?”, but barely report on our greatest sports activist. We say: “what about the kids?” while Stephon is out saving them. He does not share the polish, the easy-going personality, the temperament, or the eloquence of a president-elect Barack Obama, yet he needed no fancy title to lead Obama and the rest of us to a “national call to service”. The fact that he is an imperfect hero in an imperfect package is precisely what makes him the perfect role model. I have the tools to be great like Marbury long before I can be great like Obama.…And the more I think about it, the more I believe that I know Stephon Marbury.

Marbury is that hard-to-get-along-with friend of mine who I never fully appreciated. But then I remember the time when I got kicked out of college, and was stuck with a $3500 bill if I ever wanted to return. Then I think about a couple of years later when my father passed away. Then I reflect on the time that I went through a divorce. And each time you know what happened – Stephon Marbury showed up… to pay my college bill… to tell me he would “kick my ass” if I didn’t study and graduate… to comfort me in a time of great loss… or just to share his own helpful advice. Yeah, I have been truly fortunate to know Stephon Marbury.

But what about you? Maybe you got locked up, and he kept showing up while your other “friends” suddenly disappeared. Maybe you suffered from addiction, depression, cancer or got sick in the hospital, and he helped pull you through. Or maybe you could no longer pay your rent, mortgage, or telephone bill, and you could only think of one person to call. At your lowest most shameful moment, he appeared without judgment or scorn. Yeah, maybe I was wrong…maybe you do know Stephon Marbury.

“To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle” — George Orwell

Great post Akamu. Say what you want about him on the court, but he is genuinely a good person. He does get a very bad rep from the media, for what ever reason. I've been a fan of him for a while, but this article shows you in detail the things that he does that never gets reported. 5 stars!

Nice thread, akamu. The narrowminded-ness of people, in general, makes them only see the side that is being presented to them. They don't take the time to see the other side of the individual. That's why many people only see the negative side that the media shows. He's not gonna go out there and tell everyone the good deeds that he does.

ummmm....ok....every player has to do charity work of their choice by contract....ever seen an nba cares commercial? for 100 million over 4 or whatever years and being one of the highest apid players, wouldnt you expect a higher volume of charity work? if i had 100 million, i wud do sumthin 4 the hood too, but the thingis, the SSPORTS media dont like him because he is getting paid to PLAY SPORTS. While he was in phx or jersey actually EARNING his paycheck what extrordinary thing did he do then? at lease i now kno that he has a conscience and that he feels guilty for stealin all of our money and gives about 10&#37; of it back....yeah, great humanitarian. im im bill gates and i give you 100 dollars are you impressed? or im im ur *****, and ur broke, an i have 200, n i give u 50% ....now thats love my dude.still not sold on marbury. look at the charity work of every nba player.....the only thing steph has on them is the shoes. The shoes is a big thing, even thought they oly cost like 2 dollars to make

It is a nice thread. It does show another side to Marbury that isn't shown.

However,

Because somebody cares about a community, does nice things for them, and they generally want to change the world for the better, does not mean they still cannot be selfish, unprofessional, or immature.

People are complex. They do good things and they do bad things. These good things they do not erase anything bad they have done. they are still accountable for those bad things. And we all know Marbury has screwed up with his family, with NYK, and the knicks.

So we all have to be realistic about Marbury. He isn't a savior and he isn't the worse thing in the world.

That was the biggest pile of garbage I've ever read. As if as a diehard Knicks fan I'm supposed to excuse all the drama, embarrassment and failure Stephon Marbury has bought because he sells $15 sneakers and tries to make himself look like a decent person. Give me a break. The fact is that this clown came in here and faught with every coach, some teammates and conducted himself as a selfish drama queen. What about the drunk interviews? What about his lazy play on the court where he refused to play defense? Marbury is trash and I cannot wait until he's officially gone. I can't believe some of you defend him. You're either too young, a family member, a streetballer from Brooklyn or one of his customers.

Tuesday, December 16th 2008, 4:00 AM
Chernin/AP New York Knicks' Stephon Marbury watches the Knicks' NBA basketball game against the Milwaukee Bucks from the bench at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Williams/News Brooklyn basketball star, Stephon Marbury, has a bright future ahead of him - even if he doesn't play ball. 1995.

<!-- ARTICLE CONTENT START -->This is how the ball always bounces.
This time it's The Kid from Coney who grows up to become The Kid from Money.
Whenever I read or hear about [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] these days, about his $20.9 million-a-year contract, charges of being a malcontent, his teammates bad-mouthing him, my mind boomerangs back to the [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] projects, circa 1995.[Only registered and activated users can see links. ], an ex-cop who used to run the [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] PAL, and who'd coached Marbury in his early teens, introduced me to the quiet, respectful kid on an icy February morning two days before Marbury's 18th birthday.
Marbury bounded out of the Mermaid Houses, hands jammed in his Negro Leagues jacket, sporting a [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] Joint hat, and led us into a fenced projects basketball court on W. 31st St. which Marbury called "The Garden."
He called it that because this is where The Kid from Coney spun his childhood dreams of one day playing for his hometown [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] in legendary [Only registered and activated users can see links. ].
Here, in "The Garden," Marbury would arrive alone on the court every morning, shooting hoops from every inch of the court. Scenarios spun in his young head, many of them ending with him swishing a championship game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer in MSG, 20,000 adoring fans leaping to their feet, chanting his name.
"He was the nicest, most respectful, most talented kid I ever met in PAL," says Garvey. "I coached him for a few years starting when he was 13. I don't take any credit for his talent. I remember when the cops from the 61st Precinct played the under-16s from the Coney projects, Stephon was 13 and none of the adults could come close to covering the kid. He mesmerized us. He was also really well-mannered."
Hoops weren't the only things being shot in Coney in those days. Marbury had seen a lot of pals die by the daily gunfire of the Coney projects. "I was in grammar school when my first friend was shot to death here," he told me. "That makes you learn young that you aren't gonna live forever. Then friends just seemed to keep dropping around me. I would come out and shoot hoops from 8 a.m. to midnight sometimes. But the minute I heard a shot, even far off, I went inside."
Marbury told me he was lucky because he had a mother and father, brothers and sister, who made him focus on the positive.
"I have a negative attitude toward negativity," he said as we walked through the projects. "Thinking positive keeps you on the plus side."
Although a lot of his friends were dead or in jail, he talked about the ones who were in college, raising families as transit workers, barbers, one as a cop.
Then he said something that I remembered over the years: "I don't try to be someone I'm not. I'm just a kid from Coney who works real hard at exploiting the gift God gave me. But I'm still the kid from here, the one everybody calls X because my middle name is Xavier."
Marbury led me that day to a bench near 2940 W. 31st St., where he and pals with names like Slice, Shake, Duane, Josey, Stacey, Shawn, Corey and Kamel sat through grammar school and high school years, rapping to chicks, ducking crossfire and choosing up sides for hoop games in "The Garden."
"My mom is my role model," he said, sitting on that bench. "She taught me how to stop being a sore loser."
Recently, Marbury spent the first part of the Knicks season sitting on a different bench in Madison Square Garden, labeled a sore loser, selfish, a malcontent, bad-mouthed by teammates like [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] and management alike, booed by fans, and finally banned from games, and you just wonder where it all went wrong.
In the middle of it all come reports that the kid from the last stop on the F line is dealing with all this by buying a $40 million private jet.
If true, nothing wrong with that.
But it brought to mind what Marbury told me back in 1995: "The only shoes I have to fill are Stephon Marbury's. I just hope they fit right, remember where they come from. If I remember who I am and where I'm from, if I don't let TV and the spotlight get in my way, I'll play my game and do okay. ... Whenever I get too big for my own good, I'm gonna come right back here to remind myself I'm one of those kids."
A few years ago I said hello to Marbury in the Knicks dressing room. I didn't expect him to remember me, but I found it odd that he also didn't remember Ray Garvey, the PAL cop who'd coached him for several years in "The Garden."
"I ran into him a few years ago," Garvey said. "He didn't have a clue who I was and I'm larger than life in personality and size. Maybe it was too much fame and fortune too young, but it's like he purposely erased a lot of memories. Especially the ones when he was that sweet Kid from Coney."
The 17-year-old kid who told me in February 1995, "I'm convinced that the only difference between being raised in a Park Ave. co-op and a Coney Island project is attitude. A negative attitude in either place will make you a loser."
Swish."

Marbury "The Individual you don't know"....exactly, it's about Marbury the "Individual"!!! Not Marbury the team player. I'm not interested in Marbury the individual. If you are which some seem to be then join the Marbury fan club. I'm interested in the Knicks team! I care about Marbury about as much as he cares about me. The fact is no one speaks good of him. Not coaches, teamates etc...No one wants to go to war with him. As he stated he is getting shot in the back by his own crew in the "fox hole". I wonder why? Why will teams defend their real team mates and go to war with them but not do the same for Marbury? And they will come to the aid of their teamates although they aren't nearly as skilled as he his. Why? B/C he has alienated himself and made people and the media frown upon him. If u don't realize this than ur fooling urself. Here's all u need 2 know. In order for him to be successful, repair his image and maybe gain some trust and chemistry with new players what has to happen? Does everyone have to give him a "clean slate" and the benefit of the doubt, or does HE HAVE TO CHANGE in order for this to happen? If you answer he has to change then there u go...maybe just maybe he was the problem all along.